On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    control the judgments , and decide on the merits * and measure out the everlasting bliss or everlasting woe , of their fellow-creatures . T ( ie guilt -of unbelief is decided before the inquiry is begun ; and thus doubts and difficulties , entertained in the sincerest and most candid spirit , are , in many cases , never fairly proposed and never completely removed , because the mer £ entertainment of them is looked upon as a moral offence , and-supposed to

    indicate an irreligious heart . In the prevalence of such feelings , we search in vain for the spirit of our great Teacher , kindly compassionating the blindness of his followers , bearing with their doubts , adapting his instructions to their capacities , and opening just so much light on the mental eye as its enfeebled state would enable it to imbibe : bat we are too often reminded of the fierce and bigoted intolerance of the Jewish rulers , disdaining discussion , silencing inquiry by threats and reproaches , and vehemently asserting

    the divine authority of a system , the precepts of which they transgressed , and the spirit of which they totally misunderstood . So long as Christianity is advocated in this sectarian spirit , the prejudices against it in some minds will continue to be strong . Quodcuuque ostendis mihi sic , incredulus odi .

    The method of considering men as reprobate and hardened sinners , and of working solely on their fears , has been tried long enough , and its fruits shew its inefficacy ; it has driven men to terminate a career of crime by a series of useless and degrading mortifications , and prompted tyrants to expiate the oppressions and cruelties of early life by edicts , more sanguinary and oppressive still ; but where l > as it ever p roduced tlje sweet cjaarities pf Christian gpodness ^ ? And in an age when ignoranpe is retreating before knowledge , and superstition before philanthropy , it is time it were

    abandoned for ever . Our hearts rejpice , in that more benevolent p hilosophy which considers man as a being especially good , and rendered wicked only by the influences to which he is jexppsied in , his passage through } tfe ; as a sinner , indeed , requiring all the prpinise ^ , consolations , and excjten # j $ s which the . gospel mercifully proffers him ; but still , however sunk and degra d ed , retainmgm most cases a latent sense of trujth and goodness \ accessible to conviction and

    capable of improvement ; . . There are , in fact , certain first princip ^ s of morality an $ religion so uniformly springing up jin the h , uinan mind with i | : s progress and ^ evelqpr ment , so { pearly indicating the san > e constitutional structure , arid sof sijrejy leading to the # ime practical resujfs in all ages and all nations , that , whpther &ese principles be considered as instinctive pr apqijired , ( for t |* $ qijss r tipn i ^ purely flne pf analysis , ) we may , wfyh pnerring certai nty ; , appeal \ p their exigence , andi rely on t , heir operatipn , and calculate on thejr J influence in the mincjs tf all gpp 4 men . T ^ e grand rpplution the n to > p accpni plished in socjehr , is tfe sufetitutiqn pf Jntegqty m $ viftu ^ , jnjtgad pf p ^ rr ticular n ^ ofe pf faith , a ^ a test of cjiar ^ q ^ r : for we may a ^ ppt \ t rc an axipm , in r ^ rence to th §» gre ^ t inass ( of ^ e ljuipan race , ^ m lWgU > W principle will 4 syeiqp i ^ lff wifji . ^ e grpwtl * pf tl ? e mor ^ l cftaracfer , a ^ l will eagerly welcome trytji , a § its jofttyftl f \ pm& $ > w ^ veir tyutl > i § ( wjy

    apd c ^ difJfy proppsed . .. „ ' . . ... The re-action of common sense upon follyjmd fanaticism may , indeed , produce a temporary rejgn of scepticism ; mt , ^ app 2 ( y , scepticism is not tjie natural state $ ^ he h ujtnan j ^ iM * pk j&tf ^ reliQpn are ^ p grmjy jpla ^ t ^ ^ e ^ f ^ gr ^ fte mjnfJ ; pF mv m W

    Untitled Article

    On ( he Spirit of Sects . 807

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1828, page 807, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2567/page/7/